The mission of the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology (MCIT) is to create the premises for the durable development and
transition to the Information Society in Romania. Thus, MCIT initiated a digital reform
programme: a series of pilot projects that aim at inducing an active use of the IT&C
equipments, in order to demonstrate and take advantage of applying the latest technologies
in any kind of activity.
All these projects involve governmental
investments and are meant to diminish the digital gap between the urban and the rural
areas and to offer every Romanian citizen the chance to have access to information.
One of the objectives of MCIT is to make the
IT&C sector play a significant role in the activity of companies, organizations and
public institutions and to have a higher level of technology penetration on the Romanian
territory and among users. The IT&C sector as an economic branch is meant to provide
more consistency, to ensure stronger and balanced development at national level.
The penetration speed of the new
technologies should be also accompanied by an adequate content, having mainly an educative
and informative role. Targeting the information services towards the request for an
educative, social and informative content and then towards cultural and entertaining
fields will help a positive spread and assimilation of culture, of the new technologies
and of the information services and will rise the citizens’ level of education
and focus upon the social development.
The electronic communications field attracted the highest direct
investments and had the biggest contribution to the GDP. Also, it has one of the highest
growth rates in Romania. The regulation activity contributed to this impressive
development of the field, this sector being one of the first totally regulated fields,
according to the community acquis.
Overview of the
Romanian electronic communications market
General overview
The number of electronic communications networks and
service providers has significantly increased since the total liberalization of the
Romanian electronic communications market started four years ago. Thus, at the end of June
2005, a number of 1802 suppliers were already active. In 2005, the electronic
communications market followed trends similar to the European trends regarding the
telephony and the internet services development.
Fixed Telephony
The number of users of the new entrant fixed
telephony providers tripled at the end of 2005 in comparison with the end of 2004. A
number of 75 alternative providers of fixed telephony, out of which only three have
national coverage and together hold a market share of 9.9%. The Romanian alternative
providers of fixed telephony had 432.935 subscribers, in their own networks and in other
networks, three times more than at the end of 2004. Generally, although the total number
of subscribers to fixed telephony services has decreased to 4,390,805, the permanent
increase in the number of clients registered to the new alternative providers indicate a
reconfiguration of the supply structure and a migration of subscribers towards the
alternative providers.
Mobile
Telephony
The most important growth – 1,974,924 new
users – was registered in 2005, when the total number of users of mobile telephony
became 13,354,138. The penetrating rate of mobile telephony was 61.8% in the second
semester of 2005, in comparison with 32.47% at the end of 2003. The mobile telephony still
has a high potential of growth in Romania and the trend is increasing towards the average
EU rate which was 83% at the end of 2004.
Internet
As far as the internet services are concerned,
the 751,060 broadband connections represented 41% out of 1,829,484 internet access
connections at the end of 2005, an increase of 96% in comparison with the value of the
same indicator at the end of 2004, which was 382,783. At the end of 2005, the broadband
connections were mostly cable TV connections. Romtelecom, the main fixed telephony
operator, launched their commercial offer of broadband internet access on ADSL. Since xDSL
is the main technology used for internet access in EU, the Romanian market is expected to
be characterized by a fast growth in the number of connections offered on this kind of
support.
In 2004, 78% out of the broadband internet access
lines in the 25 EU member states used DSL technology and this technology had a market
share less than 50% only in 3 of them.
Postal market
In Romania, the regulatory framework stimulated
the development of the postal services market. Therefore, the number of postal service
providers operating on the market has doubled, from 67 authorized providers in 2002 to 138
providers, by the end of 2004.
This development created the premises for
increased user satisfaction, giving the user multiple choices, regarding both the
providers and the range of values added to the basic postal services. For example, the
users in Bucharest, where the sector witnessed the most accelerated growth, have the
possibility of choosing among the services of 114 authorized providers.
Overview
of the infrastructure
The wired communications infrastructure requires
norms, procedures, and regulations specific to pillars, piles, channels, and collocations.
There are numerous optic fibre networks of thousands of kilometres owned by various
operators (Romtelecom, STS, Transelectrica-Teletrans, CFR) which offer available capacity and needs centralized management to obtain
efficiency on a national level. At the moment, the project of the Law regarding the regime
of the electronic communications infrastructure networks is under debate.
Forecast of
the Electronic Communications Market in 2006
In 2006, the sector of electronic
communications will continue the same ascendent trend, both regarding the active providers
and the number of users. The attractivity of the fixed telephony will be generated by
service packs (voice, data and cable TV) offered by the alternative providers.
The mobile telephony market will continue to grow,
especially due to the conditions offered by services using the 3G technology, already
provided by two of the mobile operators. This year there will be a tender for other two 3G
licenses, meaning that at least another competitor will start to be active until the end
of the year.
Concerning the internet services, the broadband
access will develop at the same pace as in the first half of 2005 and will become the best
choice for most of the internet users. Cable and xDSL represent the most promising
supports for broadband internet connections.
57.17% of the households are connected by copper
wire, which allows internet access based on the xDSL technology. The growing potential
comes from the urban users, persons with incomes over the average value.
Future
privatization plans
The Government of Romania aims at completely
privatizing the 3 companies where, on behalf of the government, MCTI is exercising the
state’s shareholder attributes, namely: RomTelecom (The Commercial Company
“Romtelecom”- S.A.), SN Radiocomunicatii (The National Radio Communications
Society - S.A) and the National Company “Romanian Post”- S.A.
The Government will launch the process of listing
on the stock exchange the shares owned in Romtelecom, as well as the privatization
processes of The National Radio Communications Society and of the National Company
“Romanian Post”- S.A.
In order to prepare and carry out the
privatization, as well as to attract investments in The National Radio Communications
Society, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has been empowered to
conclude a consulting contract with an international specialized consultant.
Viewing the restructuring and privatization
processes of the National Company Romanian Post, as well as attracting investments to the
company, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology shall conclude a
consultancy contract, with an international specialized consultant. The consultant
selection and the finalization of the consultancy contract shall be carried out as
stipulated in the special rules applicable to the privatization process.
The use of the Internet
is a frequent activity for 28% of Romania’s population, over 5 million Romanians
using the Internet at least once a week, and as regards the number of PCs, a significant
growth has also been registered – 3.000.000 PCs.
The penetration of information
technology: The number of PCs per 100 inhabitants was in Romania, in 2005,
14, compared to the average in the European Union which was 31 PCs.
81,90% of the local companies have
computers, 64.16% access the Internet and 56.51% use email. Approximately 27.97%
of the SMEs have their own sites and 7.51% of the institutions resort to online commerce.
The number of broadband connections
to the Internet has increased in Romania with 96% between 2004 and 2005, reaching at
present approximately 750.000 connections.
The degree of
informatization in schools
Number of computers per 100 pupils in
primary schools: 2,3
Number of computers per 100 pupils in secondary
schools: 10,8
Number of computers per 100 pupils in
highschools: 14,3
Number of computers per 100 students in
universities: 16
The average in the countries accessing the EU
(ACC): 5,9 (primary), 6,5 (secondary)
In 66,7% of the schools in the urban area there
is at least 1 computer, and 30,5% have internet connections. In the rural areas, these
figures are: 15,3%, and 1,1%.
The Romanian IT&C sector in figures
There are over 10.000 IT companies
in Romania.
The value of the IT&C market
estimated by EITO (European Information Technology Observatory) for 2006: 4,8
billion euro
The value of the IT&C market reported by EITO
for 2005: 4,1 billion euro
The value of the IT&C market reported by EITO
for 2004: 3,6 billion euro
The value of the IT&C market reported by EITO
for 2003: 3 billion euro
In 2005, the value of the Romanian
software and services market was approximated at 1 billion euro.
The development of electronic commerce
becomes obvious in Romania, and at present there are more than 400 virtual shops,
out of which 15% accept onlime payment.
The evolution of the IT spendings per
capita: While in the European Union, the value of the IT spendings per capita
has increased from 709 euro in 2002 to 745 euro in 2005, in Romania, in
2005, the spendings reached 45 euro per capita, compared to 22 euro in
2002.
The project will sustain the public health system
reform, contributing to ensuring the management and reimbursement system, improving
medical support, online medical services, and also allowing, from the perspective of EU
accession, the interoperability of the systems and the mobility of the patients.
- The development of NES (National Electronic System)
The solution for modernizing the public
administration aims at being a viable instrument for the governmental institutions in
providing, in a transparent and efficient manner, electronic services for the citizens and
the business environment.
The aim of the component regarding the
development of the Information Society in POS “The Increase of the Economic
Competitiveness” is to valorise the potential of the ITC and to apply it in the
public sector (administration) and the private one (citizens, institutions), by increasing
the penetration of the Internet services (institutions/population).
Projects aiming at
reducing the digital gap between the rural and the urban areas:
The project, developed with the support of the
World Bank, aims at supporting knowledge-driven activities at national level, especially
at the local communities’ level, and is dedicated to accelerating the participation
of knowledge-disadvantaged communities in the Knowledge Economy and Society.
The Project will finance the establishment of
approximately 200 Local Community e-Networks (LCENs), through which communities will have
access to knowledge by a number of services and technologies, including computers, the
Internet and communications services, as well as by specific content provision for local
administration, citizens, businesses and pupils in rural and small urban communities.
LCENs will have multiple nodes: school, public administration, library and a Public Point
of Access to Information – PPAI.
- Introducing the new technologies
Power Line Communications (PLC)
- The implementation of the PLC technology, especially in the rural areas is a factor that
will contribute to reducing the gap between the urban and the rural areas, now when 99% of
the population has access to the electricity network in their own homes. The WiMax
technology - Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a technology
based on industry standards, that offers high speed wireless Internet access, covering
geographical regions on a range of 40-60 km at an extremely attractive cost/quality
proportion. In 2006, a tender for according the national WiMax licences will be initiated.
The objective of the telecentres is making the
administration of the funds from the universal service fund more efficient, by means of a
Project Management Unit, formed by representatives of MCIT and ANRC.
The aim of this project is to provide wide
informatization of the Romanian society, to create the conditions for developing a
competitive market, and the public intervention in the defavourized areas as regards the
access to this type of communications, as well as underlining the important role of the
Information Society as a determinant factor of the social and geographical cohesion.
Objective: in 2009, Romania will have approximately 4 million broadband
connections.
Law No.269/2004
settles the measures for stimulating the acquisition of computers, by according financial
help settled on social criteria, for creating competences in using the new technologies.
This Law addresses the families with pupils and/or students in the public or private
accredited educational system, with ages up to 26 years old, who come from families with a
monthly income of maximum 1,5 million lei per member of family. In 2006, approximately
28.000 pupils will benefit from this programme.
IT&C
legal framework in Romania
Provisions
on preventing and fighting cybercrime (The cybercrime related provisions are incorporated
in Title III of the Anticorruption law no 161/2003 published in the OM no 279 from
2.04.2003
LAW no.
365 of June 7th, 2002 on the electronic commerce
For more information: http://www.mcti.ro